The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-09-28
ting in loneliness, watching bereavement,

ting in loneliness, watching a bereavement,
| and you will get letter in strange hand-
| writing, and you will look at the post Once
mark, and say: why, l don't know anybody
living in that city" and You will break the
envelope, and there you. will read tne sIory
of thanks for your Christian generosity long
years before, and how they have heard afar
off of your trouble. And the letter will be so
full of kindly "reminiscences anu Christian
coincidence, it will be plaster large enough
to cover up all the deep gashss of your soul.
When we take people into our houses as Chrls-
tian guests, we take them into our sympathles
for ever. In bort, Holland, a soldier with
sword at his side stopped at house, desiring
lodging and shelter. The woman OF the house
at first refused admittance, saying that the
men of the house were not at home; but when
he showed his credentials that he had been
honorably discharged from the army, he was
admitted and tarried during the night IN
the nighttime there was knocking at the
front door, and two ruffians broke in to de-
spoil that household. No sooner had they
come over the doorsill than the armed guest,
who had primed his piece and charged II
with slugS, met them, and telling the woman
to stand back, I am happy to say, dropped
the two assaulting desperadoes dead at his
feet WE'LL now there are no bandits proving
around to destroy our houses but how often
it is that we find those that have been our
guests become our defenders. We gave them
Shelter first, and then afterwards IN the great
conflicts Of life they fought for our repu-
tation; they fought for our property; they
fought for our soul.
Another reward that comes from Christian
hospitality is in the assurance that we shaH
have hospitality shown to us and to ours. In
the up-turnings of this life, who knows In
hot land vVan be- thrown,
and how much we may need an open doorf
There may come no such crisis to us, but our
children NAV be thrown into some Sucn
strait. He who is in q Christian manner hos
pitable has free pass through all Chr1sten-
dom. 1t may be that you will have been
dead fifty years before any such stress snail
come upon one of your descendants; ouI 90
fifty yearsa And the knucke of the grand
child will be heard against the door OF some
stranger, and that door will open; and 1t VIII
be talked over in heaven, and it will be said:
"That mans grandfather, fifty years ago,
gave shelter to a stranger, and now
strangers door is open for grandson"
Among the Greeks, after entertaining ana
being entertained, they take piece of lead
and cut it in two and the host takes one-half
of the piece of lead and the guest the other
half as they part These two pieces OF lead
are handed down from generation TO genera
tion. and from family to family; and after
awhile perhaps one OF the families In "anS OF
in trouble go out with this one piece zee Oh ne ieao
spending piece of lead, and no sooner Is tne
tally completed than the old hospitality IS
aroused, and eternal friendship pledged: 80
the memory of Christian hospitality Will go
down from generation to generaton, ann i
from family to family, and the tally VIII
never be lost, neither in this world nor sne
world to come.
Mark this: the day will come when we will
all be turned out-of-doars without any ex-
ception-bare-foot, bare-head, no water In
the canteen, no bread in the haversack, ana
we will 90 in that way into the future worlu;
And I wonder if eternal hospitalitles VIII
open before us, and if we will be received
into everlasting habitations! francis fres-
cobald was rich Italian ana ne was very
merciful and very hospitable. One day an
Fnoishman by the name of Thomas Crom-
well appeared at his door asking TOR
shelter and aims, which were cheerfuliy
rendered. Frescobald afterward lost all his
property, became very poor, anu "ahoereu
up into England; and one day he saw pro-
cession passing, an 10! it was the Lord Chan-
cellor OF England; and To- the Lord Chancel'
lor of England was Thomas Cromwell, the
verv man whom he had once befriended in
Itaiy. The Lord Chancellor at the first glance
of Frescobald, recognized him, and dis
mounted from his carriage, threw his arms
around him, embraced him paid his debts,
invited him to his house, and said:
"Here are ten pieces of money to pay for tne
bread YOU gave me, and here are ten pieces OF
money to provide for the horse you loaned
me. and here are four bags, in each Of which
are four hundred ducats. Take them and be
we'll" So it will be at last with us. IL we
entertain Christ in the person Of His disciples
in this world, when we pass up into the next
country. we will meet Christ in regal pro-
cession, and He will pour all the wealth
of heaven into our lap, and open before
us everlasting hospitalities. And y, how
tame are the richest ENTERTAINMENTS we can
give on earth compared with the regal mu-
Hiicence which Christ will display before our
souls in heaven! was reading the &C, ,ount
which Thomas Fuller gives of the entertain
ment provided by George Neville. Among
other things for that banquet they had three
hundred quarters of wheat, one hundred and
four tuns of wine, eighty oxen, three chou
sand capons, two hundred cranes, two nun
dred kids, four thousand pigeons, four thou
sand rabbits, two hundred and four bitterns,
two hundred pheasants, five hundred
partridges, four hundred plover, one
hundred quail, one hundred curlews, fifteen
hundred hot pasties, four thousand cold ven
ison pasties. four thousand custards-the Earl
OF Warwick acting as sueward-and seSvltors
one thousand o, what grand feast was
that, But then compare it with the provision
which God has made for us on high: that
great banquet hour; the one hundred and
forty and four thousand guests; all the harps
and trumpets of heaven as the orchestra; the
vintage of the celestial hills poured into the
tankards; all the fruits of the orchards of
God piled on the golden platters: the angels
of the Lord tor cup-bearers and the once
folded starry banner Of the blue sky flung
out over the scene, while seated at the head
of the table shall be the One who eighteen
centuries ago declared: II was stranger
and ye took Me in" Our sins pardoned,
may we all mingle in those hospitaitiesl
| Temperance News and Notes.
I a.,d